Jamaica Exploring Strategic Partnerships with India

Jamaica is exploring strategic partnerships with the Republic of India to improve the supply and affordability of quality pharmaceuticals locally, thereby reducing the cost of healthcare in the country.

This was announced by Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, in a statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday (October 8) on his recent visit to India.

He said India is among the largest manufacturers and exporters of pharmaceuticals globally, with an industry valued more than US$50 billion.

The Prime Minister further noted that India provides supplies for nearly all countries around the world.

“In healthcare and medical tourism, we explored how Jamaica’s world-renowned tourism industry and India’s expertise in healthcare can collaborate to create a thriving medical tourism sector benefiting both nations,” he said.

Dr. Holness said the Government is laying the foundation to strengthen the partnership between both nations and not miss out on opportunities.

“We keep missing these opportunities which would have made us a stronger economy today. We are not intending on missing any more of those opportunities. We are going to create them, we are laying the foundation for them to be developed, nurtured and grow,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Holness assured that Jamaica and India are committed to increasing bilateral trade and investment, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing and technology.

“Jamaica’s strategic location offers Indian businesses an ideal nearshore hub to access markets in the USA, Canada and Latin America and the Caribbean and, in return, India represents a large export market for Jamaican products like Blue Mountain coffee, aged rums and liqueurs. But the largest opportunity is tourism, and the Minister of Tourism will be visiting India in a few weeks from now… as a follow on… to get greater tourism from India to Jamaica,” the Prime Minister said.

Dr. Holness pointed out that in the area of agriculture, discussions during his recent visit to India focused on the sharing of knowledge and best practices in critical inputs such as mechanisation.

“The most important discussion in agriculture that we had was on affordable irrigation. India has some amazing technology in affordable irrigation, and we also discussed advanced seal technologies and expertise in crop development, agro-processing as well as investment facilitation and credit support.

“What I particularly like about the Indian agricultural technology is that they rely heavily on using natural solutions… nature-based solutions in pest control and enhancing crop productivity, and I think Jamaica’s farmers would quickly embrace those technologies,” he said.